So yeah, now we know. It's been a year and a half now since the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, and finally, now finally they decide to let the bomb out and say that Episode VII will not be based on the EU post Jedi and it will tell a different story. Man are these guys now slow to reveal news.
Of course this shouldn't come as surprising to anyone really, since any fan that is aware of the convoluted mess the EU has become knows that Episode 7 needs a clean slate, as it's stated here:
In order to give maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience, Star Wars Episodes VII-IX will not tell the same story told in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded. Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe. For example, elements of the EU are included in Star Wars Rebels. The Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau, and Sienar Fleet Systems are story elements in the new animated series, and all these ideas find their origins in roleplaying game material published in the 1980s
One thing that isn't very clear is if novels like "Heir to the Empire" will now be considered as Alternative Universe or such, but it could potentially play out to be that way in the future. We also get it very clear here that film canon isn't something they are going to mess with, regardless of what some may think:
While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.
Needless to say it will be interesting to see the upcoming novels that will be designed in this new EU, which seems to be much better handled and much more interesting than how it used to be. Some of the new novels, which just look plain fantastic, are here below:
I will post an upcoming new post on everything Rebels sometime in May when I have more free time of my own. In the meantime, I will post an opinion piece going deep into the Jedi, in order to discard some critics out there.
The Tarkin novel will be in the vein of Darth Plagueis, and the Heir to the Jedi is a continuation of the Empire and Rebellion series apparently. And man, does the Lords of the Sith novel look epic. I've never been more excited for the EU myself.
PS: Whoever thought A New Dawn was going to be the title of Episode VII can now put the nail on the coffin on that one.
UPDATE-UPDATE:
To clarify the canonicity of the EU, Star Wars Books, a web page run by Del Rey, posted the following comments:
I think the importance of this cannot be overstated so I wanted to repost it here:
"we mentioned this in another post - to be clear, there is no "new EU." There is only the established EU--hereafter known as Star Wars Legends, and the main, canon storyline, which includes the films, The Clone Wars and Rebels television shows, and the new novels beginning this September with A NEW DAWN. It sounds like a minor thing to point out, but it's significant in the fact that even the term "EU" always meant it was outside the main, whereas now, all new material will be part of a unified whole."
So note, ALL new books coming out, starting with John Jackson Miller's next book, are NOT EU. (The same goes for the upcoming comics from Marvel, any video games, etc). Del Rey and LFL (and Marvel, etc) are working together. As such, the upcoming books are NOT a "new EU" but, rather, all canon, along with the 6 movies, the Clone Wars TV show, and Rebels.
Yes, it is a continuity reboot, so to speak, removing all previous EU from canon (unless they want to bring it back in some manner--it's all there for them to choose from) but it DOES elevate these new books in a way we've not seen before.
UPDATE-UPDATE:
To clarify the canonicity of the EU, Star Wars Books, a web page run by Del Rey, posted the following comments:
I think the importance of this cannot be overstated so I wanted to repost it here:
"we mentioned this in another post - to be clear, there is no "new EU." There is only the established EU--hereafter known as Star Wars Legends, and the main, canon storyline, which includes the films, The Clone Wars and Rebels television shows, and the new novels beginning this September with A NEW DAWN. It sounds like a minor thing to point out, but it's significant in the fact that even the term "EU" always meant it was outside the main, whereas now, all new material will be part of a unified whole."
So note, ALL new books coming out, starting with John Jackson Miller's next book, are NOT EU. (The same goes for the upcoming comics from Marvel, any video games, etc). Del Rey and LFL (and Marvel, etc) are working together. As such, the upcoming books are NOT a "new EU" but, rather, all canon, along with the 6 movies, the Clone Wars TV show, and Rebels.
Yes, it is a continuity reboot, so to speak, removing all previous EU from canon (unless they want to bring it back in some manner--it's all there for them to choose from) but it DOES elevate these new books in a way we've not seen before.
